The GOP is a lot more liberal than you might think, according to a surprising new poll that finds fully 60% would vote for a pro-choice candidate - great news for front-running Rudy Giuliani.

Republican pollsters Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates found Giuliani leading the field with all segments of the party - even among the 24% of so-called "moralists" who are most focused on social issues.

Giuliani's campaign rationale has always been that his reassuring leadership amid the trauma of 9/11 would trump his pro-choice, pro-gay, anti-gun record.

The sweeping survey, a bid to paint an in-depth portrait of the Republican Party, suggests he might be right.

Giuliani leads among even social conservatives because they consider him "a strong leader," said pollster Tony Fabrizio.

While many more Republicans consider themselves "conservative" than did 10 years ago, a remarkable 75% say the party is too focused on social issues. All but the vocal "moralists" call fiscal and security issues more important.

It’s not just abortion that turns me off to Rudy, although it’s a factor.

It’s the fact that he’s:

-pro gay marriage -supports government funded abortion, an assault on two facets of conservatism (fiscal and social) -has no problem with using statist methods to achieve his goals -is the quintessential opportunist (running on his 9/11 heroism and nothing else) -makes most “big government conservatives” look like Tom Tancredo -Has no inclination at all of securing the border -Has a horribly chaotic family life

I’m going to tend to vote for a pro-life candidate in a primary. In a general election, if the choice is between a pro-abortion Republican and a Democract who is worse, then I’ll vote for the Republican. A few elections back we had the tables turned here: a pro-life Democrat running for governor who was generally more conservative on key issues than the pro-abortion Republican candidate. I happily voted Democratic because he was far and away the better candidate and, if he had won, he probably would have spared Illinois a considerable amount of grief.

I use that as an example because I think the question “would you vote for a ‘pro-choice’ Republican?” requires an answer more complex than simply “yes” or “no”.

I heard the president of the Regent University Student Republican Club say, after Rudy’s speech there, that he would consider voting for a pro-choice candidate if the candidate presented strengths in other areas. Go figure.

Polls are meaningless in the media. They are very useful in marketing and some other areas. However, what is used in the media is trash and just about as meaningful as another “study” on global warming, acid rain, the coming ice age or ozone hole.

True enough. Let the Dems convince themselves that the nation would vote for a "pro-choice" president. They will be deluded themselves into believing that the conservative folks who don't want to confront the issue and try to find some kind of "fuzzy" grey area, some common, middle ground (in their own minds, mind you) will be able to vote for the whackos that believe that killing a child seconds before birth can be tolerated.

There are self-described conservatives that would be "happy" if they could get abortion limited, as opposed to outlawed, just so they can save some (or most) of the lives being lost now. That would give them the "pro-choice" label in the media's eyes, just to boost those numbers.

There was a nice editorial this past weekend in the NY Daily News about the Dems and abortion. There are liberal Catholics who are liberal on most social issues, but not abortion. Up until recently, there wasn't much to do about it. But they voted for Bush over Kerry because of the Supreme Court. They will put off their own agendas just to get rid of this travesty.

So, yeah, let them believe that the "pro-choice" vote is out there.

20
posted on 06/28/2007 10:06:50 AM PDT
by Tanniker Smith
(I didn't know she was a Liberal when I married her.)

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